The Christmas Image

We are a week away from the annual celebration of the incarnation, and the Christmas season is in full swing on all fronts. The Christmas story of the birth of Jesus is very often recounted by churches in pageant form, with children “acting” as various biblical characters. Our home church put on just such a pageant last Sunday. It was simply adorable, as are most Christmas Pageants featuring children as Angels, Shepherds, Mary and Joseph, and the babe in the manger…not to forget the two sheep and a donkey, also played by children who hee-hawed and Baaed at the appointed time. And of course, we must mention the star of Bethlehem, happily bopping about on the stage – with what looked like legs and even a face. Whether or not the “star” also had hands, our somewhat ancient memories cannot supply that information at the moment, but we certainly cannot deny that possibility either.

Our church also staged a live nativity scene in our small town’s center. Two live sheep were there in a “pen” next to the “stable.” There did not appear to be a little star or a donkey in the vicinity, or at least these did not show up in the pictures of the event.

There is, of course, the typical wrangling going on in culture as to the meaning of the day and the holiday. Secularists are working hard, and somewhat effectively, to divorce Christmas from anything to do with God. The idea that a supreme deity even exists is too much for them to believe. It stretches their credulity even more to think that such a being would send His own Beloved Son down to take on human flesh and redeem humanity through His own perfect life and His terrible sacrificial death.

Many in cults, like Jehovah’s Witnesses, and yes, some Christians, hold that Christmas is a pagan celebration having little or nothing to do with the incarnation of our Savior. The Biblical Archeology Society, “How December 25 Became Christmas,” on their Bible History Daily, weighs in on the question. They do a balanced job and also note that the information from the first and second centuries on the topic is sparse:

There is no mention of birth celebrations in the writings of early Christian writers such as Irenaeus (c. 130—200) or Tertullian (c. 160—225). Origen of Alexandria (c. 165—264) goes so far as to mock Roman celebrations of birth anniversaries, dismissing them as “pagan” practices – a strong indication that Jesus’ birth was not marked with similar festivities at that place and time. As far as we can tell, Christmas was not celebrated at all at this point.

But, they don’t stop there, and a bit further on we read:

Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus died was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar. March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation-the commemoration of Jesus’ conception. Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.

One of the best treatments of the questions about Christmas that we have read is Full of Grace and Truth: The Biblical Roots of Christmas by our friend, R.L Solberg. He begins the story where it begins: Genesis. In chapter 2, “The Consequences of Sin” he writes:

The manger in Bethlehem isn’t just a quaint scene—it is God’s decisive response to the deepest problem of the human heart. The cradle only makes sense in light of the cross, and the cross only makes sense in light of our sin.

Sin. It’s not just a word that’s fallen out of favor—it’s a concept that barely registers in the modern conscience.

In a culture that champions “your truth” and “my truth,” the very idea of sin sounds outdated—even offensive. We prefer softer words: mistake, flaw, bad habit, or just being imperfect.

But sin refuses to be domesticated. It slices through our self-deception, naming the cancer that infects every human heart.¹R. L. Solberg, Full of Grace and Truth: The Biblical Roots of Christmas; Boyle & Co. Publishing,  November 11, 2025, p.11

But what of the Biblical presentation of the birth of Jesus?:

Joseph and Mary head to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census and we’re told without drama:

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. – Luke 2:6–7

Just like that. The greatest moment in human history arrives amid census chaos, barnyard smells, and a feeding trough. No fanfare on earth—but heaven cannot contain itself.

An angel appears to shepherds—men rough and ceremonially unclean, whose testimony wasn’t even admissible in court—and declares the glory:

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. – Luke 2:11

And as if one angel weren’t enough, the sky then ignites with a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God:

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests! – Luke 2:14

Luke’s account is full of “the ordinary” transfigured: a manger becomes a throne, shepherds become evangelists, and a newborn’s cry becomes the first note of a new creation. ²R. L. Solberg, Full of Grace and Truth: The Biblical Roots of Christmas; Boyle & Co. Publishing,  November 11, 2025, p.65-66

Of course, there is always the rather humorous account, “Horus Ruins Christmas,” a Lutheran satire, which presents a short version of the Christmas Story with a biting touch of the aforementioned satire. The storyline is this: a Lutheran pastor confronts the “god” Horus with the truth that informs him that his claim that the Christmas story is about him is bunk, and possibly as ridiculous as balderdash.

The objections to the Biblical account that are most often raised miss the point. The Christmas story is about humanity’s redemption, and not really about which exact day the incarnation occurred or the origin of particular rituals and practices, but rather, at its core, Christmas is a reminder. It is a season of reminders, in fact. It begins as a reminder that God, the creator and sustainer of all of creation, took on  human flesh.

The newborn babe is the very one Whom the Apostle Paul described in Colossians 1:15 as the “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” Why was He sent down here from heaven? To live a life of perfect righteousness that we, all of us, are incapable of living. We were all born into this world with a sin nature we inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve, making all of us completely incapable of living the perfectly holy and obedient life that God demands. The parents of the race were created perfect, but they defied God and ate the fruit He had denied to them. It was not about the fruit, of course, but about our first parents’ purposeful act of disobedience, which robbed them of the innocent state they were born into and deprived their descendants of the state of perfection they (we) were meant to have carried throughout their generations.

Their action threw them and all of their as yet unborn descendants into this sinful condition, destroying our ability to live a life of perfection that God requires. Jesus, God incarnate, was born a man to live a perfect life to provide a perfect sacrifice to pay for the sin of all humanity, including you and me. But wait a minute – aren’t we still incapable of perfection in this life? Yes, as long as we live, the indwelling Holy Spirit will be making us more and more like Christ, which will be completed at our resurrection:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippian 1:6)

His birth, 2,000 years ago, was the first step on the road to His sacrifice on our behalf by crucifixion. Come to think of it, that is what the angel said in Luke 2:10-12:

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

As we see in Him the image of the invisible God, and we accept his pardon on our behalf and are redeemed, we are to “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” The precious gift of Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, once received, is the gift by which we are born again into a new life, and should reflect the Imago Dei or image of God (Colossians 3:10).

And so, on this day of remembrance and celebration, we can say along with the Apostle Paul “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)Ω

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